James Padgepp…a botanist.

During my time here at GWU, I have met a lot of interesting people with even more interesting occupations. This past Wednesday, I met James Padgepp; a GWU alum, and a botanist from Rutherford county.

This guy was amazing. I was asked to gather photos of him at the Broad River Greenway, and even though I had my camera with me, I was more interested in talking botany.

I will never forget James’ keen perspective on his environment. He was taking me all through the woods of the Greenway and I was amazed at how he found the plants he was looking for. I asked him, “how did you know to look all the way out here?” He responded, “the trees told me.” I will never be able to remember what all the names of plants he spoke of, but I will remember their smells. He said, “you can tell a lot from a plant by the way it smells.” It was like breaking bread, only breaking leaves.

Here are just a few photos of James in the Greenway.